TxDOT is experiencing wider use of multi-tiered MSE and Concrete Block retaining walls. These walls often involve loads and geometric configurations that are different from the ones for which current FHWA and AASHTO design guidelines were developed. Accordingly, the current research project was undertaken. A review and detailed examination of the current guidelines and their application to multitiered walls has been completed and presented in an earlier project report. This review also included examination and additional analyses of a number of multi-tiered walls that were designed and built for TxDOT.
This current report presents new guidelines for design of tiered MSE walls. For simple walls the design is facilitated by the use of design charts that were developed as part of this study and are presented in this report. For more complex walls, step-by-step procedures are presented. Use of the design procedures is demonstrated by application to several actual walls that were designed and constructed for TxDOT.